On Concentration

and why I hate Slack

29 March 2019

Why talk about Time Management

• Bad time management/low producitivty = Stress
• Life advice

Consider this a "Time Management Trilogy"

• Inbox Zero
• Timelog and Pomodoro
• On Concentration

How many hours per day you wasted time on...

• Can't concentrate?
• Can't find a documents, browser tabs, etc?
• Late appointment, unprepared meetings?

Can't concentrate

How to concentrate better?

• Find your good time, defend it ruthlessly alone, even work remotely
• Find your bad time, schedule meetings, calls, etc
• Use a todo list and calendar so you don't keep think about next thing
• Find time for important tasks that need your concentration

E.g.

Why interruption is bad?

• 5 mins interruption, 5 mins recovery; SIX interruptions = ONE hour

Prof. Will Ng: "Trun Push into Pull"

Reduce frequency of interruptions at all cost

• The magic is turn everything push into pull
• Turn phone calls into emails
• No push notification/Mute your phone/Only allow important numbers.
• Some people unplug from Internet or use tools like StayFocused (browser plugins)
• Check your phone / notifications only when you finished ONE thing (usually 10 - 40 mins)
• All of the above avoid push, what about pull?

Pull: make yourself comfortable

• Easy to trakc what was read/unread, so no worry of missing a thing
• Allow time to respond
• Easy to reference in future

How good are these tools for pulling?

• Gmail: Good, inbox zero, snooze; Spam @@
• Mobile Push: Good if you control the privacy carefully
• Discourse: Good if you use the Unread tab
• Quip: So-so, better now but it used to mark all notification as read once you touch it
• Slack: Bad
• Phone: Bad

Why Slack is bad for pull

• Impossible to know what was read (except Thread) hence easy to miss
• People expect real time respond, constant interruption on Slack / physically
• Can't reference by link (mainly used in Todo for follow up)
• Fragmented discussion compared with emails / discourse messages, impossible to reference neither

Improve how we use Slack

Turns out a quick search realize many people hate Slack as I do. Buffer has the 10 Slack Agreement internally which I think we should reference.

Rules on How Ourskyers Communicate

Slack Agreement at Oursky

Use Slack only for
- Social conversations, interesting links, chit-chat
- Questions / requests that need a urgent response (with @mention)
- Real-time quick discussions
- Share quick praise, love, achievements

Slack should not be used for: (use Github, Discourse, or Basecamp for these)
- High-level discussions
- Making big decisions
- Message that does not require immediate attention
- Assign tasks to others

Other Rules
- Use public channel whenever possible
- Mention the person if it is urgent
- Use Thread whenever possible
- Don't keep checking messages constantly
- Default you should set your notification to “Direct messages, mentions & keywords” only

Can't find a document

• How many browser tabs you keep opened?
• Keep a reading list, and read when you are walking / waiting (Mobile Browser Tabs/Safari Reading List/Pocket)
• Clutter = Death, Focus on one thing at a time
• Good file system is essential
• Touch each piece of information once (INBOX ZERO)

Meetings

• Calls during transist / move
• Schedule meeting before lunch / before end of work
• Schedule meeting at your bad time
• e.g. Ben is bad at morning, so my meetings are always scheduled at morning; Group at Mon&Wed.
• For Clients: "I have next meeting..."

Other Tips: Always ask yourself...

• Have I planned each day and weeks? (you can always change your plan)
• What happens if I choose not to do it?
• 80/20 rule - critical few and the trivial manay
• Break things down into small steps

Thank you